Interviewer:  Questions first {X} um your full name?
299:  Margaret {B} {B} {B}
Interviewer:  Okay and your address?
299:  It's {B} Tennessee
Interviewer:  Okay, And your address? {B}
299:  Tennessee
Interviewer:  Okay The name of this community?
299:  {B} Community
Interviewer:  And the county?
299:  Houston
Interviewer:  Okay and um where were you born?
299:  Well I was born in Houston County but um Grice's Creek. That's G-U-I-C-E-S Creek.
Interviewer:  Uh-huh how far away is that?
299:  Well um uh that's about a {NS} seventeen miles.
Interviewer:  Mm-hmm
299:  It's ten miles to {D: Erin} and it's about seven miles beyond {X}.
Interviewer:  Mm-hmm How long did you live there?
299:  Well uh 'til I married.
Interviewer:  Uh-huh
299:  Which is in uh about twenty two years.
Interviewer:  Okay and um how old are you?
299:  Thirty seven I can't even remember. {C:Laughing} I can't hardly remember{C: laughing}
Interviewer:  And um let's see what have you ever done any work outside your home?
299:  Yes I work at uh a secretary to the Houston county board of education.
Interviewer:  Okay and um what church do you go to?
299:  Church of Christ
Interviewer:  That new one that they're?
299:  Uh huh well well {NS} no not the new one down here the one up the road.
Interviewer:  And tell me about the schools that you've gone to.
299:  Well uh {X} down below Grice's Creek I went to elementary school I started in the first grade {C: tape noise} and went through the eighth grade at a two teacher school.
Interviewer:  Uh huh what was?
299:  Spring Hill
Interviewer:  Was that the name of?
299:  S-P-R-I-N-G H-I-L-L
Interviewer:  Uh huh okay and that was through how?
299:  Well uh first grade through the eighth grade.
Interviewer:  Uh huh
299:  And then I went to Houston County High School. Four years
Interviewer:  Where was that?
299:  In Erin that's just about ten miles {X}.
Interviewer:  Uh huh Have you done much traveling?
299:  No I haven't very little.
Interviewer:  Okay and um I like to get an idea of um you know what um just sort of what people you associate with a lot you know if you're real active in clubs or
299:  #1 Well you see I have #
Interviewer:  #2 {X} #
299:  worked eighteen years at this one job well I'm going on nineteen years. I started the work uh in the fall after I finished high school. And so I have worked there all my life you know what I mean? {C: tape noise} So I've met almost everybody in the county through just my job.
Interviewer:  Mm-hmm
299:  And course other than work {C: tape noise} and the church on Sunday {C: tape noise} there's very little other things that you know I do.
Interviewer:  Yeah
299:  I don't belong to any clubs or anything. {C: tape noise} but really I have met almost everyone in the county through this my job and {C: Cough}
Interviewer:  Tell me about your parents um
299:  Well {C: tape noise} {D: I've} there's a ten children in the family as far as that goes.{C: tape noise} My mother and daddy are still living.
Interviewer:  Mm-hmm
299:  But my grandfather was from West Tennessee on my daddy's side.
Interviewer:  Mm-hmm
299:  So he's really the only uh one that wasn't originally from Houston County. {C: tape noise} But he {C:Coughing} was borned in West Tennessee. In a little place called well his people live in Finger. Finger, Tennessee {C: tape noise} And you know Robin Beard the congressman
Interviewer:  Uh huh
299:  His name he's got the same last name that I had. And uh I know his name came out of the paper showing that he's visiting Finger, Tennessee making his {C: tape noise} speeches and uh that was were my grandfather was really from down there.
Interviewer:  Is that were his his folks were from?
299:  Mm-hmm And uh he uh came to live her and uh paint when he was about nineteen years old. Some {C: tape noise} -where in his teens {C: tape noise} up on Grice's Creek. And I believe she left him the place when she died this place where my daddy was born. So that's how come him didn't come to Tennessee and he was actually about nineteen years older than my grandmother. In fact he was he fought in the Civil War and she was born when the Civil during the Civil War. So that's how much difference there was in their ages.
Interviewer:  Do you know um how much education they had? Your parents
299:  #1 My parents #
Interviewer:  #2 {X} #
299:  #1 #
Interviewer:  #2 #
299:  #1 now my mother #
Interviewer:  #2 Yeah #
299:  #1 #
Interviewer:  #2 #
299:  she finished high school and uh and went to summer school or something and got a certificate and taught school two years. And my father he's a finished the eighth grade I believe.
Interviewer:  What work did he do?
299:  He farmed all of his life.
Interviewer:  What about your grandparents do you know anything about their education? Or occupations or?
299:  Well my grandparents on my daddy's side my he- my- his daddy farmed all his life too. And course his wife she never did anything but just house wife.
Interviewer:  Yeah
299:  And my grandparents on my mother's side uh well my granddaddy he ran a grocery store all of his life that I remember that I actually you know went to the grocery all the time to. And then course my grandmother on my mother's side she didn't she just a house wife
Interviewer:  Mm-hmm What about their education do you have any idea?
299:  I really don't know but my grandfather on my mother's side was a he was a justice of peace in uh sorta was always active in politics and and county affairs I guess you would say.
Interviewer:  Okay um and would you know anything about your your family further back you know maybe what well maybe before they came to Tennessee or when you know anything like that?
299:  Um no not really see my grandfather that's from West Tennessee as far really knowing a lot about his people didn't anyone {NS} know anything about him much. Except um mother says my mother says that her mother-n-law said one day that uh {C: tape noise} he had a red headed sister with brown eyes and she said uh {D: how} said she always wished that uh somebody in the family would have a child with red hair and brown eyes. So uh out of all of my brothers and sisters mother had one girl that had red hair and the brown eyes. And so she said she just always remembered that they said that grandpa had a sister with read hair.
Interviewer:  Yeah
299:  But as far as knowing much about his people we didn't. I don't think they even visited much cause that was a long ways to go you know.
Interviewer:  Yeah it sure was. Um
299:  And of course ah {C: tape noise} my grandfather on my mother's side
Interviewer:  Mm-hmm
299:  Course like you know I said he was borned on Grice's Creek and everything {C: tape noise} and um his father which was my great grandfather
Interviewer:  Mm-hmm
299:  Oh when he was born they didn't even think he was gonna live so they didn't bother to name him.{C: tape noise} {C: tape noise} And when he got old enough he could named hisself {C:Laughing} so that's my great grandfather.{C: tape noise} So he actually {C: tape noise} had three wives he ah married my grandfather's mother and then she died and he got married again.{C: tape noise} And had two children and she died.{C: tape noise} And then he married a real young woman about nineteen years old and he was oh I guess he was way up in his fifties then {C: tape noise} and they had one child. So he had three wives. {C:Laughing} But it so other than that I don't really know ah a whole lot about you know
Interviewer:  Yeah
299:  anything that's of any interest much.
Interviewer:  What um what about your husband? How old is he?
299:  Uh he's seven years older than I am so he's uh forty four.
Interviewer:  Okay and um what church does he go to?
299:  He doesn't go. But he's he's really a member of the Church of Christ, but he
Interviewer:  Um and what about his education?
299:  He finished eighth grade.
Interviewer:  Okay what work does he do?
299:  He's disable.
Interviewer:  Has he ever been?
299:  Well yeah he's a has worked in Michigan at a when his younger days he worked in Michigan at the automobile plants and things out there. And he was in the Navy
Interviewer:  Uh huh
299:  three years before I even knew him really.
Interviewer:  Did you ever live in Michigan? Or was that before you met him?
299:  That was before I met him that's before he ever married before he went into service he he worked in Michigan off and on.
Interviewer:  Mm-hmm
299:  Over the years but I didn't didn't even know him then. We've lived here ever since he ever since we've been married.
Interviewer:  Mm-hmm Um do you know where he's from or where his parents are from?
299:  Oh yeah he's from just about {C: tape noise} four miles over the hill is of the same kind. {C: laughs}
Interviewer:  Uh huh And um what about his parents? Were the born around here? Would you know?
299:  Ah {C: tape noise} well his daddy was born on Grice's Creek {C: tape noise} and his mother was borned uh well it is on the other side of Grice's Creek I don't know what you'd call it. It's several miles beyond Grice's Creek.
Interviewer:  Mm-hmm What's this um community like has it changed much since you've?
299:  Well {C: tape noise} this community?
Interviewer:  Uh huh growing up here
299:  Well see I haven't actually {C: tape noise} lived here but uh in this community for about {C: tape noise} think six years.
Interviewer:  Mm-hmm
299:  So as far as knowing much about this community uh I don't really know a lot about it.
Interviewer:  Mm-hmm
299:  But uh because like I said I was born in Grice's Creek and then after we married we uh lived in Erin.
Interviewer:  Mm-hmm
299:  Which are you familiar with Erin?
Interviewer:  I'm staying there.
299:  Mm-hmm well that's where uh we lived there in an apartment for awhile after we married. And then from there we moved here and we've lived here then ever since. So
Interviewer:  How many years did you live in Erin?
299:  Um well we lived there from fifty eight to to sixty seven. So it would be about nine. Somewhere around nine years.
Interviewer:  Mm-hmm and um well this tell me some about what um well the town that you grew up in how that was what that was like then and you know what it's like now and.
299:  The community where I I was born?
Interviewer:  Just the community that you are most familiar with.
299:  Well {C: tape noise} the course the community where I was born and raised um Grice which is a {C: tape noise} Grice's Creek community was which is just a a farming community and ah it's just farms and uh well um {C: tape noise} {X} there was ten in our family and then just uh on the next farm in sight there was the neighbors they had I think it was seventeen children in their family. {C: tape noise} And then on the other side of us my aunt lived up the road my daddy's sister {C: tape noise} and they had seven or eight children. {C: tape noise} So uh {C: tape noise} then on up the road on ever ever neighbor and family almost had as many as six or seven or eight children.
Interviewer:  Mm-hmm
299:  So uh {C: tape noise} {C: tape noise} but {C: tape noise} course us and the family down the road from us {C: tape noise} had the sixteen or seventeen children. Ah we were the closest of all of course we uh {C: tape noise} played together all of our lives. But uh other than that we never did even as much as we didn't even get as far as Erin very often which was six {C: tape noise} I'd say six or seven miles to town. {C: tape noise} So we very seldom even went to town. It was a rare occasion when uh {C: tape noise} we went to town. And uh my granddaddy on my mother's side which lived about a mile up the road from us he had a he ran the grocery store up there which we spent a lot of time up there and just thought we had got to town when we got to the grocery store. And he had a well it is either an A model or T model Ford I don't know which it was cause his back then very few people in that community even had a car. But he did have a car {Cough} so sometimes when I spent the night up there my grandmother would let me go to town with them. So we would there I'd be about say six years old or something and sometimes it would be winter time
Interviewer:  Mm-hmm
299:  but he'd buy me an ice cream cone and then take me to the court house where he'd spend all of his time probably sitting talking to the old lawyers there in town and there were other {X} and things like that. And so that was my trips to town usually which was very seldom.
Interviewer:  Yeah
299:  And uh really uh now see all of the people in that community all the children all those people have married and moved away. And so there is really nobody there now but just older couples in the community.
Interviewer:  Mm-hmm
299:  And uh in fact see I don't there is still just one brother at home at mother's and that's all. He's not married. And then uh the neighbors down the road that had the seventeen there's not any at home there.
Interviewer:  Mm-hmm
299:  And uh should I answer?
Interviewer:  If that's your phone yeah. {C:Ringing} There's only?
299:  He's at his mother's now. His mother
Interviewer:  You were telling me about community growing up.
299:  I really don't know anything else. Is there anything in general that you?
Interviewer:  I was just wondering um I had um noticed that it seemed most of these smaller communities people had sort of just moved out or you know just mainly older people.
299:  Well see that's what happened to our community see my mother and daddy lived in where they still live and uh still live and then my the neighbors down the road there's just the couple man and woman. And up the road my aunt uh it's just the two of them and uh the old home place where I was born and were daddy's daddy's mother and daddy lived and everything uh it burned back uh few years ago it was one of these old uh two story houses you know that had the long front porch you know like you see a lot in the south. And uh so it burned so that house is gone. And um well I'd say from say within a two mile distance of where I was born and raised I'd say there's not but two children no there's about four children on that whole two mile space where when I was growing up well you couldn't count them because every family
Interviewer:  Mm-hmm
299:  had eight or nine children and right now I know of four children on that whole two mile distance
Interviewer:  Mm-hmm
299:  of Grice's Creek. And that two teacher school where I went to school closed down.
Interviewer:  How is um the built they've down some have they built these lakes recently? Or just built up this area?
299:  Oh they've done a lot now this this Kentucky lake down here ah well it it was there when I was a child. I don't know actually what year it was uh formed or whatever they did because I did when I was just a child I did
Interviewer:  Mm-hmm
299:  I'd gone with some neighbors to see the lake and that was the first time I ever saw it.
Interviewer:  Mm-hmm
299:  And uh oh I don't know course there has been a lot the TBA has moved in to Cumberland city which is about seven miles from where I was born and raised. The steam plant had just been built and just now it's just about completed now. And of course that's all come about just since I was growing up and uh of course there has been quite a few changes in this town of Erin. Even that I can remember the tore down so many of the old houses and course they built a new courthouse since I can remember and uh well it has just changed a lot. I don't know anything in general you know just
Interviewer:  Yeah someone had I looked at a map and there was a place up well it's up in Stewart County called um Tharpe. And then on this other map Tharpe wasn't on there.
299:  Oh
Interviewer:  And I was wondering
299:  I've heard of Tharpe community or
Interviewer:  Uh huh someone said
299:  I've heard of that but I didn't know
Interviewer:  Someone said that just with all the making state parks and everything that that is had just been sort of wiped out. I was wondering if if they were trying to turn this area more into of a resort area just around here with the fishing.
299:  Uh huh
Interviewer:  And tourism and everything. Coming to the lake
299:  Well I haven't really uh heard anybody predict this now we do have oh so many people now that have their camps down here and all this. And um but I haven't heard anybody say {C: tape noise} that they would just turn this into a resort area {C: tape noise} like uh over in Stewart county they did turn this what they call the land between the lakes I understand and they bought out everybody {C: tape noise} almost that lived in that land. {C: tape noise}
Interviewer:  Yeah that that was where Tharpe was.
299:  It was. Well I knew a some people you know that moved even to Stewart there was an old lady that lived down here and there was {C: tape noise} another old couple that lived down on down below. {C: tape noise} But lived oh near {X} or somewhere in Stewart County. And they they had to move. And uh course I'm not too familiar with that type of thing you know but uh they had had their homes and their farms and all that it had been bought out.
Interviewer:  So all that that's the land between the lakes is just
299:  Just the way I understand a camping area you know just {C: tape noise} there's nothing there I mean. I've never been there but uh everyone's that's been talk like you don't see very much of anything except
Interviewer:  Mm-hmm
299:  just it's just land between the lakes. And the bought out everyone that owned it. And everybody had to move out. And I know different ones that talk about the old houses and things that were just left you know maybe.
Interviewer:  {X} {C: Laughing}
299:  But I'm not too familiar with all that cause we haven't actually had anything like that to really happen {C: tape noise} right here you know. Except this steam plant now {C: tape noise} this Cumberland city steam plant uh I guess they they did buy out some people that before they built that. But it's mostly right down there on that Cumberland River you see. So {C: tape noise} I don't know much about cause as far as the Grice's Creek community it still just about like it was as far as the land is concerned. The same people own the same land almost. That they did when I lived there. So nobody selled much out there. Everybody stayed
Interviewer:  Yeah {C: tape noise} I'd like to get any idea of the what the house you grew up in looks like um if
299:  Well {C: tape noise}
Interviewer:  you know sort of a floor plan of it. If if you could sort of draw the floor plan {C: tape noise} and is I just wanna see
299:  Well it's real simple {C: tape noise} {NS} just like {NS} just like this. {C: laughing} {C: tape noise}
Interviewer:  What direction is it facing first of all?
299:  I don't know my directions that well. I really don't.
Interviewer:  Do you just sort of take a guess of it?
299:  Well let's see just a minute I believe it's facing south because because uh the reason I remember {C: tape noise} we'd go out on the back porch {C: tape noise}
Interviewer:  Mm-hmm
299:  and it seems that we'd always see those northern lights the call 'em you know {C: tape noise} that's in the sky. {C: tape noise} And the sun would {C: tape noise} come up at the end of the house.
Interviewer:  Mm-hmm
299:  So I believe it would be facing south and it's just uh it's just uh really one of these houses that has the long front porch.
Interviewer:  Mm-hmm
299:  And it just has a closed in hall in the middle
Interviewer:  Mm-hmm
299:  And here's the well which is the living and bedroom combined now you see we just {C: tape noise} didn't have much space. {C: tape noise}
Interviewer:  What did you call it?
299:  We called it the house. {C: tape noise} {X}{C: tape noise} We called this room right here {C: tape noise} the room we stayed in we called it the house.{C: tape noise} And well this room was called the other room.{C: tape noise}
Interviewer:  {C:Laughing}
299:  Now this is what the girl at work laughs at me about.{C: tape noise} the front door was right here. {C: tape noise} And this was a window right there {C: tape noise} and a window right there and a window there in that room. {C: tape noise} well a window there but {C: tape noise} and then off of this room there was the kitchen like that. {C: tape noise} And then the back porch was about like that. And of course a door went out on the back porch. {X} {C: tape noise}
Interviewer:  So
299:  Really this is a long front porch {C: tape noise} and this this was a bedroom living room combined {C: tape noise} we just called it the house now as we's growing up {X} If we said going into the house we meant going in that room over there.
Interviewer:  That's the south
299:  #1 That #
Interviewer:  #2 south um #
299:  #1 #
Interviewer:  #2 # West {C: tape noise}
299:  Mm-hmm {C: tape noise} that's right and then a {C: tape noise} this was the hall way {C: tape noise} and this was {C: tape noise} {C: tape noise} another room a bedroom or something. Well every room was a bedroom that wasn't the kitchen then {C: tape noise} because that many children. {C: tape noise} {C: tape noise} And so we um {C: tape noise} we just called this the house and this was the other room actually
Interviewer:  Directly across then from the the house {C: tape noise}
299:  Uh huh {C: tape noise}
Interviewer:  #1 And then the {U:self less} #
299:  #2 Oh here was # here's the upstairs {C: tape noise} the steps in the hallway {C: tape noise} {C: tape noise}
Interviewer:  Mm-hmm
299:  went upstairs. {C: tape noise} And then upstairs there was there was a a room over this room {C: tape noise} this room and this room. {C: tape noise} Which was one of these just rooms like this you know I don't know if you are familiar with rooms that are not actually {C: tape noise} {C: tape noise} a they're not full sized rooms {C: tape noise} see where the {C: tape noise} roof come up like this.
Interviewer:  Oh yeah {C: tape noise}
299:  those little rooms upstairs nothing but little eaves.
Interviewer:  Yeah I
299:  So uh {C: tape noise} but now there was upstairs rooms over this room and this room and this room. {C: tape noise}
Interviewer:  So it would be the?
299:  But there was just this is the back porch right here so there was actually just the three rooms downstairs three little bitty rooms up- stairs. {C: tape noise} Now did you want me to label these? {C: tape noise}
Interviewer:  Yeah the kitchen then would be directly behind the the house. I mean the room.
299:  Mm-hmm
Interviewer:  That be so in the in the south I mean the the north of west corner.
299:  I'd say this is south and maybe this was north {C: tape noise} and uh {C: tape noise}
Interviewer:  And then what's this again?
299:  The this is the hall. {C: tape noise}
Interviewer:  Yeah and this?
299:  This is the {C: tape noise} stairway that went up to these first stairs. {C: tape noise}
Interviewer:  That's right in the hall
299:  #1 right in the hall #
Interviewer:  #2 off the #
299:  #1 #
Interviewer:  #2 # #1 main room there. #
299:  #2 uh huh # And uh this is the back {C: tape noise}
Interviewer:  Did you have rooms divided upstairs? {C: tape noise}
299:  Uh yes {C: tape noise} these rooms were divided in fact there was a hallway {C: tape noise} upstairs a little hallway see these stairs went up from this hallway {C: tape noise} from the main floor. {C: tape noise} Hooking on those stairs {C: tape noise} and it had a little {C: tape noise} landing we called it {C: tape noise} stairs which was a little hallway and then it was divided into a the room on the one side {C: tape noise} and uh {C: tape noise} then the room on the other. And now this room over the kitchen was actually we never did use it except we called it a junk room we never did have a bed in there. But uh {C: tape noise} really this upstairs room over this room {C: tape noise} a bedroom for the usually for some of the girls. And the boys had this {C: tape noise} bedroom upstairs {C: tape noise} over the house. {C: tape noise}
Interviewer:  {C: Laughing} {X} So it is exactly the same design upstairs?
299:  Uh huh
Interviewer:  Except for the porches.
299:  Except for the porches uh huh. And the rooms of those that have the eaves like that. {X} You couldn't stand up anywhere but in the middle of the room really when you got over {C: tape noise} the sides you had to kind of stoop over. {X} {C: tape noise} I didn't know how to label these these are actually
Interviewer:  Uh huh
299:  that bed the room over there is uh it's just the main room that we we lived in. but Course in those days we didn't have a living room
Interviewer:  Suit
299:  -thing we just had chairs beds. {NW} And as far as the house it's still the same now. It it hasn't been changed but a very little. Except just within the past few months mother has had a room built off the kitchen right here sort of a utility room. {C: tape noise} {C: tape noise}
Interviewer:  So there's the
299:  That's the only change to the house you might say
Interviewer:  Is extending west off the kitchen?
299:  Uh huh
Interviewer:  How did you have it heated?
299:  With just these uh tin heaters with wood.
Interviewer:  Uh huh What about uh an older um type house how would that be heated? {C: tape noise}
299:  Fireplaces maybe uh {NW} see this uh this house {C: tape noise} when {C: tape noise} daddy and mother moved there it had a fireplace {C: tape noise} and that's how we heated that main room
Interviewer:  Mm-hmm
299:  uh when uh this room here where this window was here it was a big tall chimney and a fireplace there. And I can remember as a child actually you know that was the only way of heating in that room was the fireplace. And uh so uh that was the only heat we had course in the kitchen we cooked with the wood {C: tape noise} and on a wood stove. In fact my mother is still cooking on a wood stove even though she's got electric. {X} But she still cooks on a wood stove. Cause she likes it. {C: tape noise} She nearly burns up this way. {C: tape noise}
Interviewer:  {NW}
299:  My mother hasn't changed hardly any since over the years
Interviewer:  Yeah um tell me about a fireplace the the part that the smoke would go up through what would you call that?
299:  Well I just the chimney {C: tape noise} is what we called it. {C: tape noise}
Interviewer:  Okay you know on at a factory you might have something similar a big a bigger thing.
299:  Uh huh
Interviewer:  Would you call that a chimney? #1 Or would you have #
299:  #2 or smoke stack #
Interviewer:  Huh?
299:  Smoke stack
Interviewer:  Ah okay and um the the open place on the floor in front of the fireplace?
299:  The hearth
Interviewer:  Okay
299:  Ah
Interviewer:  Do you ever remember cooking on that?
299:  Well
Interviewer:  Or is that
299:  {X} well really when I was say about five years old before I started to school {C: tape noise} when we actually heated with the fireplace.
Interviewer:  Mm-hmm
299:  I can kinda of remember mother putting um {C: tape noise} a pot of something say beans on to start them to simmer or something {C: tape noise} {C: tape noise} and but actually cooking on it she didn't {C: tape noise} and I can remember her uh {C: tape noise} heating {C: tape noise} water with uh well she'd get a great big kettle of some kind and she'd course we didn't have hot water and so I can remember heating hot water {C: tape noise} on that a lot. In fact she would just set it you know some fireplaces are made with the hooks where you hook pots on but this one wasn't. And so one day she had this pot of {C: tape noise} hot water boiling you know to maybe she was going to wash diapers I imagine {C: tape noise} and she was sitting in front of this fireplace attending to the baby. {C: tape noise}
Interviewer:  Mm-hmm
299:  And this uh the wood {C: tape noise} {C: tape noise} broke you know burned in two. And this hot water all come {C: tape noise} just turned over and poured out on her. {NS} And it burned her legs All underneath her she grabbed the baby and and {X} So therefore {NS} {X} {X} {NW} {X} So {X} you want to hear more about the fire? {NW} {NW} But uh as far as mother cooking on it I can't remember but like I said I do remember heating water on it. {C: tape noise} And uh {C: tape noise} and then oh I can remember {C: tape noise} after we the next winter {NS} probably after we quit heating with it uh we put up a tin heater
Interviewer:  Mm-hmm
299:  to burn wood in it to heat the house and uh {C: tape noise} see they didn't close in the fireplace right at the time right at the first and I can remember uh when the rest of the kids had gone to school well we would {C: tape noise} get what ever we were going to eat for dinner and get back in the fireplace {C: tape noise} and sit back in there in eat because it was just a {C: tape noise} a nook you know back in that. So that's I do remember that about it and I was just about five years old then.
Interviewer:  What about say if you were going to start a fire what would you call that kind of wood?
299:  Kindling kindling
Interviewer:  And you know you might have a big piece of wood that you put towards the back?
299:  The backlog
Interviewer:  Okay what would you lay the wood on?
299:  Oh those dog irons {NW} that's what I'd call.
Interviewer:  Okay have you ever heard any other name for that?
299:  Really I haven't I don't.
Interviewer:  Okay um what about the oh the place about the fireplace?
299:  The mantle
Interviewer:  You ever hear any other names for that?
299:  No I haven't.
Interviewer:  Okay um I was thinking of fire board or or clock shelf
299:  Uh uh no I haven't
Interviewer:  Um the black stuff that that you clean that gets up in the chimney?
299:  Soot
Interviewer:  Okay and the stuff that you have to clean out of the fireplace?
299:  Ashes you mean?
Interviewer:  Uh huh Okay um and talk about things that you might have in a room um? {X}
299:  Well I say a chair {C: tape noise} but uh what a lot of people say "cheers." {C: pronunciation demonstration of "chairs"} {NW} But we always say chair but we had our neighbors that say "cheers." {C: pronunciation of neighbors' "chairs"} {NW}
Interviewer:  What about this thing that we are sitting on now? {C: tape noise}
299:  Well {C: tape noise} we call it a couch {C: tape noise} but I've {C: tape noise} but when I was growing up we called them devonettes {C: laughing} {NW} {C: tape noise} But really couches and devonettes and sofas {C: tape noise}
Interviewer:  Uh huh For it all mean the same thing? {C: tape noise}
299:  Mm-hmm as far as I'm concerned it does. {C: tape noise}
Interviewer:  Okay um what about something that you might have in your bedroom
299:  Well {C: tape noise}
Interviewer:  to put your clothes in? {C: tape noise}
299:  Well uh we used to call them chifforobes.
Interviewer:  What was that like?
299:  Well it was uh {C: tape noise} {C: tape noise} it just a big tall piece of furniture that had uh {C: tape noise} usually it had uh {C: tape noise} one big door {C: tape noise} like a closet kind of but then it had {C: tape noise} three drawers. {C: tape noise}
Interviewer:  Mm-hmm
299:  Maybe on this side with the mirror or maybe up over those three drawers or some kind have the mirror up over ah another little {X} there's different types but we didn't ever actually have one. {C: tape noise} {C: tape noise} But I the neighbors had one and they called it the chifforobe. {C: tape noise}
Interviewer:  Did you have a place for hanging the clothes up there? In the in the chifforobe? {C: tape noise}
299:  In that part {C: tape noise} yeah that compartment had the long door {C: tape noise} it had uh a rod I believe a little short rod but I don't think there was much space and usually my stuff {C: tape noise} it had to. {C: tape noise} {C: tape noise} The place was about that big to hang clothes. {C: tape noise}
Interviewer:  About a foot?
299:  Yeah and it would be about the length of say a dress {C: tape noise} i think. And then the drawers {X} now my grandmother she had uh a big two compartment you know it had two big doors and {C: tape noise} she it was tall. She had a real good one it was almost like a closet but it was actually a sorta of a homemade chiff- chifforobe. {NW}
Interviewer:  What other things?
299:  Uh you mean?
Interviewer:  For putting clothes in.
299:  Well other than closets uh
Interviewer:  What about something just with drawers in it but doesn't have a place for hanging them up?
299:  Oh we had those chest of drawers we called it.
Interviewer:  Okay
299:  That's all we had.
Interviewer:  Have you ever heard any other name?
299:  Well {C: tape noise} uh yeah {C: tape noise}
Interviewer:  Bureau or something like that?
299:  Well {C: tape noise} uh yeah I've heard them called a bureau {C: tape noise} br- {C: tape noise} bureau's but I I'd forgotten about yeah. {C: tape noise}
Interviewer:  What about something that maybe has has drawers in it and it has a mirror to it?
299:  Say like a dress {C: tape noise} well uh say like a dresser
Interviewer:  Mm-hmm Talk about what's is that how's that different from a does that always have a mirror to it or? How would you describe that?
299:  Well I describe it always {C: tape noise} having a mirror usually but now back I can remember when people had and we didn't actually have those the kind of those dressing tables it actually just had {C: tape noise} a mirror that hung over them.
Interviewer:  Mm-hmm
299:  And our neigh {C: tape noise} But uh and our neighbors had uh they didn't have ah what you call a dresser they had uh {C: tape noise} {C: tape noise} something that had three shelves in it and they just called them the shelves {C: tape noise} and they had a mirror that hung over that. {C: tape noise}
Interviewer:  Mm-hmm
299:  And uh everytime they always would go to the she they'd say go {C: tape noise} to the shelves and get whatever it was you know and uh so they always talked about the shelves which we didn't have. {NW}
Interviewer:  Yeah
299:  But uh {X} for me with those dressing tables and the neighbors who'd have the shelves.
Interviewer:  Um what about something that you might have in in your windows to something on rollers solid material
299:  Shade the shades.
Interviewer:  Okay that's that's solid material isn't?
299:  Uh huh it's usually some kind of matting it's vinyl or
Interviewer:  Mm-hmm
299:  but yes it just unrolls on shades
Interviewer:  Okay and um say if a little room at the top of the house not really a an upstairs exactly what might you call that? {NW}
299:  Really I I don't really know. I think I couldn't think of anything.
Interviewer:  Do you ever speak of a loft or sky parlor or attic
299:  Well attic {C: tape noise} yes see that's what you'd really call it {C: tape noise} and in a way our rooms upstairs a lot of people would call them the attics. {C: tape noise} Which they weren't actually the upstairs rooms. {C: tape noise} But uh the attic is about the only word that I'm real familiar with.
Interviewer:  Okay um and now have you ever heard of well I guess your house didn't have it but in kitchens um you know people using a different type kitchen in the summer than they did in the winter.
299:  Yeah see I'm not familiar with that either but see I've I have read you know uh a lotta I used to read a lot of books you know about the South it's always kinda of fascinating. And uh {C: tape noise} the way they did and they always had in these books I read they talked about the summer kitchen and this type of stuff.
Interviewer:  Mm-hmm
299:  And uh in fact they even had it appeared that they even had sinks or something where they even washed the vegetables in some kitchen or something. {C: tape noise} Now this house that my where my daddy was born and raised where I was actually born but we moved into this one after I was born. {C: tape noise} It had the two main rooms downstairs and upstairs it had the big long front porch sort of like this one {C: tape noise} but on the back {C: tape noise} it had a long front porch and it went all the way down the back {C: tape noise} upstairs and downstairs on both front and back. {C: tape noise} And then it had a we called it the game plan or something {C: tape noise} that just went {C: tape noise} out into the outside {C: tape noise} and the kitchen was actually a little {C: tape noise} little room outside. {C: tape noise} It didn't even connect {C: tape noise} the only thing that connected it to the main {C: tape noise} house {C: tape noise} was a that little {C: tape noise} a walkway {C: tape noise} that walked and it wasn't even covered over over over the top. And at my daddy's home place to go from the kitchen to the bedrooms or the rooms they actually stayed you went across that little plank porch of a thing to that room. And it it was actually it was a kitchen all out there itself. And but it but this house was built back well in the southern days when you know back when {C: tape noise} {C: tape noise} years and years and they probably even had slaves {C: tape noise} and probably even had slaves just cook in the kitchen probably I don't know {C: tape noise} But it that I'd forgotten about that but that's what it was yeah that kitchen was completely little{C: tape noise} house out there.
Interviewer:  Uh huh
299:  And uh it would actually you'd actually get get wet going to the kitchen.
Interviewer:  Did you ever hear that called anything besides kitchen? Did you ever hear of cook house or cook room or?
299:  No we never did. {C: tape noise} We never did call it anything else. Now uh at the school Springhill school where I went to school uh back before I started to school you know uh that was back in I guess it was Roosevelt days you know well they built a cook house they called it then a little house out at the corner of the school ground. {C: tape noise}
Interviewer:  Mm-hmm
299:  And they they actually cooked meals in that little room {C: tape noise} {C: tape noise} in that little house and carried them into the main school room and served them. And uh they called that the cook house and it was referred to as the cook house {C: tape noise} but they see all that closed down bout the time I started to school you know and ah they was given commodities up until I started school. {C: tape noise} And then they closed that down they actually never did have a lunch room there at the school as long as I was going. But then after I started the high school they uh started this new lunch program that is in effect now were they actually give the commodities and everything. My older sister and brothers actually went to school where they did have the cook house out in the corner of the the school ground. {C: tape noise} And that little house stayed out there all the years that I was in school and we referred to it as the cook house. But it just they stored junk in it when I was in school.
Interviewer:  Yeah What would you um where would you keep your canned goods and dishes?
299:  Well a lot of people had pantries which we didn't have at home. And uh we just uh uh had 'em in what we called the kitchen cabinet and the safe and {X} safe.
Interviewer:  I think I know what you are talking about.
299:  It's it's usually there they maybe white or something {C: tape noise} some of them stand up on four legs {C: tape noise} high across the floor {C: tape noise} and some of them are not they are long ones. {C: tape noise} But they're just uh ah it's a piece of furniture that has {C: tape noise} {C: tape noise} usually those big tall ones have two doors up above and a drawer in the middle and two doors down below. And mother's got both kinds and then these that's got the four long legs. It sits up on legs just has two little doors they have shelves in it. {NW} {NW} {C: tape noise} And then the kitchen cabinet {C: tape noise} which is not like the cabinets we have now mother still has one of those it's just a kitchen cabinet with the two doors above with a compartment down here where you usually keep your salt and spices and everything and then the door and drawers down here underneath and it has this counter that pulls out with a biscuit board
Interviewer:  Uh huh So that's a piece of furniture then rather than something
299:  Uh huh it's uh in other words it's not installed in the building {C: tape noise} it's just a piece of furniture that you can move it around. My mother still has that the kitchen cabinet the safes and of course she still has the wood cook stove.
Interviewer:  Mm-hmm
299:  She's got nothing built-in in her kitchen
Interviewer:  Talk about the daily house work you'd say that a woman does what every morning?
299:  What does she do every morning?
Interviewer:  Yeah to the house you'd say every morning she?
299:  Well I'd say does her house work.
Interviewer:  Okay um say if you were sweeping the floor and dusting and so forth you'd say that you were?
299:  Cleaning
Interviewer:  Okay Um and the thing that you sweep with?
299:  Broom
Interviewer:  Okay and say if if the broom were were right there in that corner you'd say that it was? Where? See the the door's open so the it's sort of hiding you'd say that the broom was?
299:  I'd just say that it was in that corner
Interviewer:  Okay but in relation to the door you'd that it?
299:  Behind the door
Interviewer:  Okay and um maybe this is too far back for you but traditionally at least on Monday woman usually did their?
299:  Their washing
Interviewer:  Okay and on Tuesday's?
299:  The ironing usually
Interviewer:  Okay what what might you call both washing and ironing together?
299:  The laundry I guess.
Interviewer:  Okay and um you mentioned um that you had a I think you said a stairway inside the house
299:  Mm-hmm
Interviewer:  Would you use that same word um talking about something say from the ground to the porch?
299:  No we called them step we called them steps.
Interviewer:  Okay um and um you know different types of there are different types of porches you know do what would you call say a porch that comes off the second floor of the house?
299:  Oh I've heard them call verandas {C: tape noise}
Interviewer:  Okay {NW}
299:  that but uh {C: tape noise} I'm not familiar too much with that. {C: tape noise}
Interviewer:  What about other names for different?
299:  Balconies or balconies or {C: tape noise}
Interviewer:  Is that from the second floor?
299:  I would think so uh huh. {C: tape noise} Yeah I have heard of people talk about from the balcony. {C: tape noise}
Interviewer:  Mm-hmm What about um say a porch that goes around the corner of the house or a small porch off the back or do you think of any different names?
299:  Well course now-a-days patios they {C: tape noise} you know use that a lot but uh back then a it was just the back porch and the front porch usually and now a lot of people called a different a {C: tape noise} I don't know if they's referring to steps or what they'd call them the stoops. Now I don't know if they's talking about a little porch usually {C: tape noise} to me when I think of a stoop they used to call it {C: tape noise} the stoops I think of a little small porch.
Interviewer:  Mm-hmm
299:  It's not it's not a step and it's not actually a porch it's
Interviewer:  Yeah
299:  And I've heard people call them stoops but now I don't know it's I can't think of anything right now.
Interviewer:  Okay did you ever heard of dog trot or dog run?
299:  Yeah I've heard of the dog trot and and I really I imagine {C: tape noise} anybody might call that little porch that went over to the kitchen where my daddy was born and raised somebody might even call that a dog trot I mean it was a it was a little porch that ran out from the main porch you know to connect to the kitchen. That's kind of what it was a dog trot {NW}
Interviewer:  What what is a dog trot mean I'm not I didn't grow up hearing the word I'm not really sure how
299:  #1 I really don't know. #
Interviewer:  #2 What do you picture # when someone says when you talk about dog trot?
299:  Well you think of a little {C: tape noise} porch that a dog would {C: tape noise} trot across you know. {C: tape noise}
Interviewer:  So just something long and narrow?
299:  Uh huh {C: tape noise} in other words there's not much to it except a narrow thing {C: tape noise} that's what I think of {C: tape noise} but I'm not too sure cause a lot of things I've just heard and I don't really know.
Interviewer:  Yeah Okay um say if that's open and you don't want it to be you'd tell someone to?
299:  Close the door.
Interviewer:  Or another word you might use?
299:  Shut the door.
Interviewer:  Okay And um you know some houses have have these boards